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Friday, June 3, 2011

How the state perpetuates poverty. The other day, I went to Times Square to ask people what government should do to help poor people. Most everyone agreed on the answer: "more social programs and a higher minimum wage." It's intuitive to think that way. I used to think that, too. When President Johnson declared a "war on poverty," he said "compassionate ... MORE

by Eric Lach. The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes several former heads of state and UN officials, has released a report calling the global war on drugs a failure. "The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world," the report reads. "Fifty years after the initiation of the UN Single ... MORE

Thursday, June 2, 2011

by Larry Elder. "Today the court affirms what is perhaps the most radical injunction issued by a court in our nation's history." So began Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's enraged dissent. Release up to 46,000 convicted felons, the court recently ordered the state of California. In a 5-4 decision, the court gave California two years to reduce its prison "overcrowding" -- or set ... MORE

Why should taxpayers be forced to support charitable groups? Shortly after taking office, George W. Bush created an office of faith-based initiatives, making it easier for religious groups to receive federal funds in order to minister to the poor, conduct emergency relief operations, and perform similar good works. Social conservatives cheered. But many liberal skeptics ... MORE

The latest Social Security Trustees Report tells us that the program will be insolvent by the year 2037. The combined unfunded liability of Social Security and Medicare has reached nearly $107 trillion in today's dollars. That is about seven times the size of the U.S. economy and 10 times the size of the national debt. Those entitlement programs, along with others, account for nearly 60 percent of federal ... MORE

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

We all know the metaphor for dangerous incrementalism: put a frog in a pot, slowly raise the temperature, and the frog will boil to death. For generations, liberalism has cleverly coordinated the country's slow, incremental push leftward: exploiting sympathies for the poor and sick to expand all things government and hammering the benefits of social justice, diversity, and multiculturalism ... MORE

One of the painfully revealing episodes in Barack Obama's book "Dreams From My Father" describes his early experience listening to a sermon by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Among the things said in that sermon was that "white folks' greed runs a world in need." Obama was literally moved to ... MORE

Monday, May 30, 2011

by Radley Balko. On May 5 at around 9:30 a.m., several teams of Pima County, Ariz., police officers from at least four different police agencies armed with SWAT gear and an armored personnel carrier raided at least four homes as part of what at the time was described as an investigation into alleged marijuana trafficking. One of those homes belonged to 26-year-old Jose Guerena ... MORE

by Stephen L. Carter. The man in the aisle seat is trying to tell me why he refuses to hire anybody. His business is successful, he says, as the 737 cruises smoothly eastward. Demand for his product is up. But he still won’t hire. “Why not?” “Because I don’t know how much it will cost,” he explains. “How can I hire new workers today, when I don’t know how much they ... MORE